Serco pulls out of out-of-hours care in Cornwall

The private contractor Serco has reached a “mutual agreement” to end its GP out-of-hours contract in Cornwall 17 months early. The embattled company, which this week has been forced to hand over contracts for electronic tagging in the criminal justice system, also announced that it is to pull out of running Braintree Hospital in Essex after a review of its healthcare operations.

Serco has been extensively criticised over its out-of-hours service, including in reports from the Care Quality Commission and the National Audit Office.12 These reports were prompted by whistleblowers’ claims that Serco’s service was understaffed and that it was altering data to ensure it was meeting its targets.

In July the parliamentary public accounts select committee published a damning report on the …